Pictures and Reflections

I guess vulnerability is a funny thing, when you show someone the cracks in your armor you show them a little more about yourself. In a morning gathering this week I heard a man say that when we are at our weakest point we are strong. Through our weakness we can find more strength than we ever thought possible. The last few weeks I have been in that hazy area of vulnerability, heart split open, hoping for strength. What I find funny now is that even when you are sad, and lonely wondering when it will stop, there is always hope. As we finish Lent and move into the Easter season we have a chance to focus on that hope and see it work in our lives. As I work in the field, and feel the sun, and see the flowers I can’t help but think about the resurrection and hope for new life. The spring is a beautiful reminder of hope, happiness, and love. If you don’t believe me just go out and listen to the birds, they never lie.

Peace and Love

Mike

Handstands in the kitchen

Not exactly the kitchen, more like the dining room but it did not sound as good. It is Sunday night and we start work in the morning. Last week was a strange one for weather with some warm days then two nights of snow I never new what was coming next, I would go to bed to clear skies and wake up with 6 inches of powder.

I am settling in to Japan a little more now. For the first several months I went back and forth about my opinions of my host country. It took my discovery of a really nice river 30 minutes from ARI and a random backyard full of kayaks to wake me up to the possibilities. I have since taken a new approach to language learning, started rock climbing and started planning a hike for May. There are some really cool aspects to the country and the people that I overlooked when I first got here. I don't think I have mentioned it on here before but before I decided to apply to YASC I had never really thought of visiting Japan. As such I knew little about the culture and history that I had not picked up from samurai movies. It just seemed to complicated for me. However, while I was re-watching Kill Bill vol. 1 today I started to recognize phrases and little elements of Japanese culture that I have picked up in my stay.

This afternoon we went to a local Ramen restaurant and then spent the rest of the day wandering along small trails and rambling through rice paddies. I have taken it upon myself to search out the best ramen and gyoza spots in town. For those of you that are missing out on this food phenomenon, ramen is not just a bag of freeze dried noodles and msg's that you heat up in 3 minutes, it is an art form. Ramen is a noodle dish native to China that has been welcomed with open arms here in Japan. They serve bowls of ramen the size of your head, and a very popular side dish is another Chinese immigrant the gyoza. Gyoza is effectively a wanton stuffed with meat and onions (or a wide variety of other foodstuffs I am learning) and pan fried, deep fried, stewed, or baked. They are delicious and I am seriously considering opening a small restaurant when I get back to the States.

This evening we spent some time trying to do yoga poses in the main room which led to handstands and break dancing. We have a boisterous group of Japanese volunteers who are getting ready to go overseas for 2 year service assignments with the Japanese Overseas Cooperation Volunteer organization (think Peace Corps.) They were my adventuring posse this afternoon and always down for a good time.

I am glad the video blogs have received a positive acceptance and I will be posting another one soon. Go find a local farmer or restaurant to support and enjoy some good company. All my love.

Peace,

Mike

A Rambling Weekend of Adventure

I had a great weekend. I got to explore the area by bike with the help of a map, and found some really cool neighborhoods in the neighboring town of Otawara. I went to the bakery and a local grocery store to buy apples. I followed a great green way bike path and cruised along the river until I was riding off of the map. I eventually found myself and explored some more off-beat parts of the city.

After lunch I went bouldering with Mitsuru-san our staff climbing fiend. The bouldering wall is in a warehouse district close to the farm. It is a long low wall that goes from vertical to overhanging cave, and there is a giant foam crash pad on the floor. The routes (referred to as "problems") marked with colored tape and numbers which helps reference which route is which. Since I am so much taller than everyone else that climbs there I have begun skipping holds on the routes, this is a constant source of entertainment for the other climbers. This skipping inadvertently makes the routes harder and thus brings everyone back down to my level. We had a great time yesterday on red #7 which I took from 9 moves to five making the last move a dyno (think flying.) None of us actually stuck the dyno yet but I have faith that we will next time.

Last night we went to one of the commuting volunteer's house for dinner and festivities. He gladly shared his collection of exotic liquors from around Asia and we ate our fill of nabe. I had a great time.

This morning I woke up early to go snow shoe hiking in the mountains with Ishiyama-san. He is another commuting volunteer and splits his time between ARI, his passion for wildflowers, and guiding hiking trips with the Shiobara visitor center in Nikko National Park. He picked me up around 8 and we met a group of about 25 retirees at the visitor center for a 3 hour trek through the snow studded mountains. It was very pretty and very cold. The Japanese seem to age very well and no one had any problems on the hike it was amazing. After the hike I got to visit Ishiyama-san's house which is very nice and complete with a traditional Japanese garden. I met his wife and got to see his photo albums of wild flowers. He has three large wild flower observation areas in the mountains where he has documented over 800 different flowers. He is a very interesting man.

Unfortunately, my camera is on the fritz so I didn't get any of my own photos this weekend, but there were cameras present so I will try to track down some photos and post them soon. I will leave you with a picture from the Organic Farmer's soccer weekend, we got to wear Japanese clothes. Stay warm, hug an Episcopalian, and eat some good food for me. Peace and Love.

Mike

Missionary

The Episcopal church wants to change the name of missionaries to "Mission Partners" and it has caused quite a stir amongst those currently serving in the mission field. An enterprising young YASC volunteer, Jesse Zink, sent out an email to all of the mission personnel in the field with his objections to the change and requesting other reactions. For the last three days I have been reading responses from all over the Anglican communion. It is incredible. There are people all over the place doing incredible things out of love and faith. It makes me feel somewhat lacking. But this email stream is highly encouraging and it just makes me want to re engage in the mission or "spiritual" aspect of my work here. As for the name change it feels like a superficial patch on a perceived problem. For some of the missionaries out here dealing with the title missionary is a chllenging but rewarding step in the mission process. Changing the name makes an often misunderstood ministry that much more opaque and hard to explain.

It is challenging living your faith so far from home, your friends, and comfort zone, but I guess that is a funny turn of phrase because "living your faith" requires faith or trust or love or that ever elusive peace. SO maybe I should say that the challenge is living away from home, friends, and comfort zones, and living your faith is what helps make it bearable. I have done a lot of thinking, and praying, and a little growing the last few months. Living here I can view current events from the periphery. Working with so many other cultures lets me see that greed, excess, and waste are not the exclusive domain of the U.S.. This has been a healthy time for me to see some of the broader conditions around. Granted there are some terrible terrible things being done in the world, and the folks at the bottom are quite a ways down there, but there is hope and love and all the good people doing their little parts in their little places to make it all a little better.